Spiritual Communication

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux States:

So whenever you hear or read that the Word and the soul converse together, and contemplate each other, do not imagine them speaking with human voices nor appearing in bodily form. Listen, this is rather what you must think about it: The Word is a spirit (Jn 4:24), the soul is a spirit; and they possess their own mode of speech and mode of presence in accord with their nature. The speech of the Word is loving kindness, that of the soul, the fervor of devotion..... When the Word therefore tells the soul, "You are beautiful," and calls it friend (Son 1:14), he infuses into it the power of love, and to know it is loved in return.... The speech of the Word is an infusion of grace, the soul's response is wonder and thanksgiving."

Song of Songs

Vol II Sermon 45

Cleaving To God: Saint Albert

Chapter 2
How one can cling to and seek Christ alone, disdaining everything else

Certainly, anyone who desires and aims to arrive at and remain in such
a state must needs above all have eyes and senses closed and not be
inwardly involved or worried about anything, nor concerned or occupied
with anything, but should completely reject all such things as
irrelevant, harmful and dangerous. Then he should withdraw himself
totally within himself and not pay any attention to any object entering
the mind except Jesus Christ, the wounded one, alone, and so he should
turn his attention with care and determination through him into him -
that is, though the man into God, through the wounds of his humanity
into the inmost reality of his divinity. Here he can commit himself and
all that he has, individually and as a whole, promptly, securely and
without discussion, to God's unwearying providence, in accordance with
the words of Peter, cast all your care upon him (1 Peter 5.7), who can
do everything. And again, In nothing be anxious (Philippians 4.6), or
what is more, Cast your burden upon the Lord, and he will sustain you.
(Psalm 55.22) Or again, It is good for me to hold fast to God, (Ps.
73.28) and I have always set up God before me. (Psalm 16.8) The bride
too in the Song of Songs says, I have found him whom my soul loves,
(Canticle 3.4) and again, All good things came to me along with her.
(Wisdom 7.11) This, after all, is the hidden heavenly treasure, none
other than the pearl of great price, which must be sought with
resolution, esteeming it in humble faithfulness, eager diligence, and
calm silence before all things, and preferring it even above physical
comfort, or honour and renown. For what good does it do a religious if
he gains the whole world but suffers the loss of his soul? Or what is
the benefit of his state of life, the holiness of his profession, the
virtue of his habit and tonsure, or the outer circumstances of his way
of life if he is without a life of spiritual humility and truth in
which Christ abides through a faith created by love. This is what Luke
means by, the Kingdom of God (that is, Jesus Christ) is within you.
(Luke 17.21)

Why we pray so intensely

We must train ourselves a great deal in prayer and penance, because the world has a great need of souls who pray, of spirits who are given to sacrifice, of hearts who are committed, valiant, prudent and full of love. Our prayer must be total and sincere, not in hoping for delights, congratulations or rewards. If we take faith for our companion all the rest is insignificant. It is useful and necessary to possess and love faithfully. In faith we know we possess God who is loved by the will, reaffirmed by the mind, and witnessed to by our actions. We must not be preoccupied with the tribulations, the dryness, the dark nights of the soul. These trials we all must pass through. God dwells in the hidden, dark nights. We must work tirelessly, even in the obscurity of these trials, because this is our sanctification, our purification.

The compassion of Jesus

The compassion of Jesus.

Earthly parents, father and mother,
in our flesh, are wont to feel great compassion and sympathy for their
offspring; and if they find them afflicted with pain of any kind, or
any bodily inconvenience, are ready enough to spend both themselves and
their fortunes, should reason so require, for their children's recovery
to ease and soundness. Ofttimes, too, many dumb animals even do not
shrink from facing death itself for their young; and only too willingly
go to meet it, that their offspring may escape it, Whence, now, comes
this to man and to the brute? Whence comes this natural sympathy, but
from Him who is the Father of sympathy and compassion; who wills not
that any should perish, and rejoices not in the destruction of them
that die? Our Creator, therefore, the Fountain of compassion, the
Fountain of mercy, when He sees us His children stained with any sinful
contagion, or hurt well nigh to death with the many and deep wounds
that crime has made, displays towards us greater devotion in curing our
sins, in healing our sickness, in cleansing away the leprosy and filth
of our misdeeds, in wiping out the soils of our vain thoughts, than
does earthly father for his children, or reasonless brute for its
young. Nor is it enough for Him simply to cure our sicknesses, and so
dismiss us; when we are healed, He makes us His own close familiars,
and afterwards folds us tenderly in His arms as His own dearest
children; ay, He embraces us and kisses us, and then soothes and
consoles away all our infirmities, and all the sinful leprosy we had
contracted by our folly, and entirely forgets all the injuries we once
did Him by spurning Him in His consolations. He clothes us with honour
in this present life, and crowns us with glory in the next; He makes us
kings; and, as to our soul, her He makes a queen, whence He admonishes
us as kings, already made so in the psalm: And now, O ye kings,
understand; receive instruction, you that judge the earth' (Ps. ii.
10). For we then are kings indeed, when we rule our inordinate motions,
and reduce them to reason and the will of our Creator; we receive
instruction when we judge the earth, that is to say, when, if we see
that our heart desires earthly things, we compel it to contemn the
earthly and to love the heavenly. Our soul becomes a queen; for arrayed
in varied robes--that is to say, adorned with divers virtuous
gifts--she is wedded in mind's continuous act and habit to Christ her
Spouse who is in heaven, even whilst she sojourns here on earth. It was
not enough for our Creator to create us, and to govern us when created,
and to send angels, as often as need was, to defend us; but He in His
own Person, taking our form to Him, taking our nature to Him, out of
pity for the work of His hands, came down to us, looked carefully at
our wounds, touched them, felt them; and, moved with pity for the
misery which He saw enthralled us, grieved over us, and sighed in His
inmost soul. He pitied, grieved, and sighed for us; and then of that
very Flesh which He had assumed for our sake, made as it were a healing
ointment, and applied it to our griefs, and restored us from our
sickness back to perfect health. And, that He might in this mystery
show how much He loved us, He gave us that very Flesh which He had
assumed for us, that we might eat It; and onwards to this day fails not
to administer It to us in the sacrifice of His altar.

Thou, then, my soul, consoled and animated by the sweet recollection of
all these mercies, pray to thy Lord, pray to thy Creator; invoke all
His saints to thy assistance, that, aided and consoled by their
intercession, thou mayest gain of Him who made thee grace so to live in
this thy present state, so to purge away thy iniquities by true
repentance and confession, as that, thy transitory passage run, thou
mayest merit to mount up to joys eternal; by His help who liveth and
reigneth God to eternal ages. Amen.

ST. ANSELM'S
Book of Meditations and Prayers.

Uniformity With God's Will

Uniformity With God’s Will
Saint Alphonsus de Liguor

“Perfection is founded entirely on the love of God: ‘Charity is the bond of perfection;’
and perfect love of God means the complete union of our will with God’s.”

St. Alphonsus

http://doctors.godworkin.us/liguori_uniformity.html
Excellence of this Virtue
Perfection is founded entirely on the love of God: “Charity is the bond
of perfection [2] ;” and perfect love of God means the complete union
of our will with God’s: “The principal effect of love is so to unite
the wills of those who love each other as to make them will the same
things [3] .” It follows then, that the more one unites his will with
the divine will, the greater will be his love of God. Mortification,
meditation, receiving Holy Communion, acts of fraternal charity are all
certainly pleasing to God—but only when they are in accordance with his
will. When they do not accord with God’s will, he not only finds no
pleasure in them, but he even rejects them utterly and punishes them.

This is my hope

From the Confessions of Saint Augustine

"Lord, you know me. Let me know you. Let me come to know you even as I am known. You are the strength of my soul; enter it and make it a place suitable for your dwelling, a possession without spot or blemish. This is my hope and the reason I speak. In this hope I rejoice, when I rejoice rightly. As for the other things of this life, the lamented; and the more they deserve tears, the less likely will men sorrow for them. For behold, you have loved the truth, because the one who does what is true enters into the truth, because the one who does what is true enters into the light. I wish to do this truth before you alone by praising you, and before a multitude of witnesses by writing of you."

God secretly teaches the Soul

God has an immense desire to work in your soul, to lead you to sanctity and to union with Himself, provided we commit ourselves into His hands. The Lord Jesus comes to our assistance with purifying trials in order to empty us of self, to detach us from creatures, and to immerse ourselves in true humility. God secretly teaches the soul and instructs it in the perfection of love.

I have been studying lately the Doctors of the Church. And well it all comes down to one thing, pray and study the Word of God. The more we meditate on Scripture the more God works in our souls.

Coming soon I am working on a website on the Doctors of the Catholic Church. I have many, many, homilies from the great Saints. A treat that will be coming soon.
But if you want a sneak peak then go here. I have more coming this weekend.
http://godworkin.us/doctrine/index.html

God bless,
Linda